A History of the Zulu People

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A HISTORY OF THE ZULU PEOPLE
Being an abridged history of the People, Places and Events of Zululand from the Years 4000 B.C. to 1595 A.D.

The Ancients

Nearly 5500 years ago, on a large, grassy plain, arose a tribe of peoples, known as the Zulus. The Zulus gradually merged with other tribes in the area, and settled in a community. This initial village was little more than thatched huts and straw roofs alongside the Zambezi River, but grew over the next few thousands years to become Zimbabwe, the greatest of cities.

Around 4000 years before the birth of Christ, the Zulus came under the control of one man, Shaka Zulu, the first of the Zulu rulers to hold the name.

Shaka Zulu taught the Zulu people how to cultivate the land, and helped them begin the formation their first organized military unit... initially a group of citizens armed with available stone implements. He also commissioned the fasted of the young warriors to act as his eyes and ears, to scout the land for available expansion. They became known as the "Eyes of the Zulu."

When Shaka Zulu died circa. 3940 B.C. his era had left such an imprint on the Zulu people that his successor, Chikebwe, took his name, Shaka Zulu, as the official title of his office of chief. The new Shaka Zulu oversaw the final deployment of the new warriors acting as scouts to the hamlets surrounding Zimbabwe, collecting tribute and dispensing justice. As the Eyes of the Zulu expanded their knowledge of the surrounding lands, it became apparent that the land of the Zulus was relatively confined. To the north there were low hills and the Great North Sea. To the west, there was another large sea, though hamlets along the shore spoke in awe of a peoples known as the Japanese that lived across the water. To the est the great Thatchai Mountains, and to the south lay the silk rich Mugobai Jungle.

As successions of Shakas rose to the rank of chief of the Zulus, the Zulu realm expanded. Across the Thatchai Mountains there was found a river, the Kiboko, along which the Zulus built their next settlement, Ulundi. During this period, circa. 3000 to 2000 B.C., the Zulus tribal areas expanded to include the silk areas of the great jungle, pacified by the city of Bapedi, and over the Mutanbo Mountains north of Ulundi, by the settlement of Hlobane. By 2000 B.C., the Zulus had emerged as not just a collection of settled tribes, but as an empire. The 231st Shaka Zulu declared himself Emperor of the Zulu Empire in 1980 B.C.

It was during his reign that the properties of bronze became well known, and it was he that commissioned the bronze-workers of Zimbabwe to cease creating small trinkets and to forge spears for his new elite troops, the impis. For the next 2000 years, the hallmark of Zulu presence were the impis of the Shaka Zulus that followed. From Zimbabwe north to the Great North Sea to south of the Mugobai Jungle to the Persian lands in the east, impis roamed the plains and the mountains, defeating one by one the tribes of the other areas; the Assyrians, the Hittites, the Mauryans, and the Parthians. Their raiding parties continually threatened to break out into the central plains around Zimbabwe, but every time the Zulu impis would crush and destroy their advance.

For those 1500 years, the Zulus expanded, to the south, and to the east. Peaceful contact was made with the peoples of those regions, the Americans, Persians, and the Iroquois. Trade was first initiated between the Persians and the Zulus, the Persians trading Dye for Bapedi silk. Zimbabwe during this time grew to over 400,000 residents, and was first among the cities of the world. All bowed before the might of the Shaka Zulu, and all that beheld his power trembled in fear before it.

But not all were pleased by this measure of events. The Americans and the Iroquois, left out of trading agreements for Zulu silk, were filled with wrath. The Shaka Zulu had yet again refused their requests. In 570 A.D., riots broke out in Zimbabwe over lack of sanitation and overcrowding. The Shaka Zulu, his impis along the fringe of the empire driving away the Mauryans, was forced to recall his forces. During the interim, the riots threatned to turn into a revolt. It was during this time that the treacherous Americans struck.

In May of 575 A.D., the American Emperor declared war upon the Zulus. That month, his forces of swordsmen, archers and spearman, estimated by some to be nearly 5,000 men total (5 units), marched into Zulu territory near Ngome, north of Hlobane. Here was Zululand's only source of Horses, and the great Shaka resolved to fight here. He deployed 16 of his 20 non garrison impis to the region, and they fought bravely. The fighting waxed and waned, and the names of the battlefields, such as Imtekle and Ngome, were etched into the psyche of a thousand Zulu generations. The Zulu impis drove back the powerful American forces, but at horrendous losses. By 585, the Shaka could count only 10 active Impis not assigned to garrison duties.

It was at this low point when the treacherous Iroquois launched their attack. Iroquois forces stormed from the south in numbers larger than even the Americans could muster. It appeared that at one point 8 Iroquois units were marching upon Umfolozi. Unlike the border with the Americans, the border with the Iroquois had been stripped of all but bare minimum garrison forces. The great Zulu cities in the region, such as Iguende and Umfolozi fell to the Iroquois onslaught. The Great Shaka was forced into a humiliating peace, buying off the Americans and Iroquois with fine silks, and most of the Zulu treasury. An annual tribute of 5 talents of gold was to be paid to each of the two villains.

These wars forced the Zulus to concentrate upon internal development, as the defeats cut off the Zulus from further expansion unless they wished to fight the two empires that had recently defeated them. Under the following Shaka Zulus, research and learning were emphasized. The Iroquois eventually became peaceful trading partners, giving gems and furs to the Zulus in exchange for silk and Iron.

With the discovery of numerous iron deposits within Zulu lands, by 760 A.D., the Shaka Zulu then ruling commissioned a restructuring of the Zulu armies. The impis were disbanded in favor of pikes, the warriors in favor of swords. The lucrative trade agreements with the Persians and the Iroquois funded these improvements. The Zulus also began fielding mounted horsemen encased in armor.

But in 955 A.D., a change that was not seen previously in the world took place. The 1285th and last Shaka Zulu peacefully gave up power to a delegation from the Zulu cities. The Zulu Empire became a Republic. With this new government, an explosion of ideas took place, and Zululand retook her place as one of the centers of thinking in the world.

But this Republican government did not quelch the fighting spirit of the Zulu people. No, instead it fed it. In 1185 A.D., it was apparent that the American empire was crumbling. The powerful "Lion of the North" had fallen victim to a succession of weak and ineffective rulers. Even then, the cities along the northern American border were defecting to a new rising power, the Babylonians.

It was at this time that the Zulu Senate resolved to strike in the name of vengeance. Sticking into the side of Zululand was a string of American cities, Dallas and Cincinnati. To the north of Hlobane was New Orleans, originator of the attacks in 570 A.D. The Great Senate of the Zulu Republic resolved to take these cities. Quietly forces were amassed, until 8 divisions of knights, longbowmen, swordmen faced each of the American cities. In 1205 A.D., with the fall of the American capital to the Babylonians, the mighty Zulu army struck.

In the first week of campaigning, Dallas collapsed before the Zulu forces. The troops earmarked for the siege at Dallas had enough time to press northward and assist in the fall of Cincinnati later that month. The forces pushing against New Orleans stalled, however. The city had newly completed a set of city walls, and the Zulus, lacking intelligence of this occurence, were forced to build catapults to bring forward. Before the assault could procede, however, Zulu troops noticed the next campaign season that another force had arrived.

The Babylonians.

The American Empire had been far weaker than anyone had expected. The Babylonian army, within the space of 8 campaign seasons since the Zulus had begun their involvement, had torn the heart out of the American nation, and had split it in two. Now their mighty Southern Army marched into New Orleans as the Zulus looked on. Overnight the American Empire had collapsed from 20 cities to only 5, the rest having fallen to the Babylonians.

Fearing that the Americans might fall without Zululand getting proper respect, the Great Senate concluded an overbearingly harsh treaty with the Americans. The Americans surrendered their entire treasury, and 8 talents per year in tribute...

Coming soon: The Wrath of the Zulu...